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NEW DELHI: Pakistan may want to link Kashmir to the US's revamped Afghanistan strategy but Washington today made it clear Kashmir isn't part of the equation.

The US said its position on the troubled Indian state remains intact: Both sides should sit down and talk.

The US state department today was firm about this in response to a specific media question on the issue.

The question: "...does the U.S. see pushing for a solution on Kashmir as part of this regional strategy to deal with Afghanistan?"

The state department spokeswoman indicated "no" saying that nothing has changed with regard to the US policy on Kashmir.

"In terms of Kashmir, our policy on that has not changed. We continue to encourage the sides to sit down and talk together about that," said spokeswoman Heather Nauert.

Pakistan, on the other hand, went right ahead and linked the US's revamped Afghan strategy - which included possibly the harshest warning toward Pakistan in recent times about it harbouring terrorists - to Kashmir.

Here's what Pakistan foreign ministry said, in an official statement, after US President Donald Trump announced the US's new strategy for Afghanistan and the region:

"The threat to peace and security cannot be isolated from the complex interplay of geopolitics, continued existence of festering disputes and pursuit of hegemonic policies. Non-resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute remains the primary obstacle to peace and stability in the region," said Pakistan's foreign office statement.

To be sure, the US state department spokeswoman did say that the new regional strategy incorporates India and Pakistan, but she made it clear it was from a "30,000 feet" up perspective

"Well, I think going up to 30,000 feet, we view the whole strategy and handling Afghanistan as being a regional strategy, and that, of course, incorporates India as well as Pakistan...", said Nauert.

Still, for the US, that doesn't mean Kashmir, it means anything that will make Afghanistan stable again.

To that extent, "...incorporating all the nations in that region who can - we believe can help assist and help make Afghanistan a stable place where you'll never have a terror group that will take root in that country again and can launch attacks on other countries", is a regional approach.

Trump, in fact, went one step further in getting India involved in its Afghanistan strategy+ , in a manner that makes Islamabad extremely uncomfortable. He said specifically while announcing the new Afghanistan strategy that the US wants India "to help us more with Afghanistan".

Pakistan has ad infinitum tried to internationalise the Kashmir issue by trying to get the US, UN and others involved. But to no avail. Now, cornered, even by the US, it's rattled.

The New York Times reported yesterday, citing unnamed sources, that "Trump's appeal for India's help on Afghanistan set off alarm bells on Tuesday in Pakistan, where officials warned that the approach risked jolting a tumultuous relationship."

Our politician will play the Kashmir issue over the last dead body of Indian soldier and let them fight a defensive war which they will never win and lead to war of attrition and young soldiers will lay their life in vain.

Statement recorded before DM just to ensure there's no retraction later. NIA raids in full swing. Huyyirats in full panic mode 'daring' big-bad-India to arrest them and what not. Making virtue outta necessity onlee....

Cutting money to the terrorists is a critical thing. It is unfortunate that it had to wait till date. IB and RAW must be knowing all the details for decades now and no one has shown guts to do it. Even NM took three years to start the process. DeMo must be a starting point and the with all the cash brought into the system and carefully analysed more clear and current information would have come into the hands of IB.

Hari Seldon wrote:Saar, i see devious NM plan here...First, cut funds supply and get the hoorieyats into jail. Then use the sanghi president's office to rollback Art 370.Security forces can handle the fallout provided the organizer gangs are in jail and the money channels are blocked shut.After that resettle pandits, carve out separate regional and autonomous status to Jammu + Ladakh etc can proceed apace, with Arts 35 & 370 gone.A guy can hope, at least.Sigh.

NEW DELHI: Abu Ismail, a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist operating in Kashmir and "architect of Amarnath Yatra attack", was killed on Thursday in an encounter with security forces in Aribagh area of Nowgam on the outskirts of Srinagar, police said.

"LeT terrorist Abu Ismail of Pakistan and his accomplice have been killed in Nowgam. Huge achievement for police and SF (security forces)," Jammu and Kashmir police official said, adding that he was the architect of the deadly attack on Amarnath Yatra in which seven pilgrims, including six women, were killed and 19 were injured.

According to the official, the encounter ensued after government forces cordoned off the area following inputs about the presence of terrorists.

"Bodies of both the terrorists have been recovered. And Ismail's associate is identified as Chotta Qasim. He is also a Pakistan resident," the official said.

"It hardly took half an hour to complete operation. He was one of our prime targets. Two AK 47 rifles and UBGLs were recovered," Munir Khan said, adding, "Abu Ismail was on our hit list for long. He was also wanted in 15 other criminal cases."

He also said that "terrorists leadership has to be eliminated because they misguide our children and lure them into this."

Meanwhile, internet services have been now been partly restored in the Srinagar city.

Proactive operations have been launched, mainly in south Kashmir, to track down Ismail as investigations including communication intercepts have pointed out to his involvement in the attack on Amarnath pilgrims, a senior police official had said.

He is the fourth top terrorist killed in Kashmir since last year. Burhan Wani, Sabzar Bhat and Abu Dujana were killed by security forces earlier.Cheers

Srinagar, Sept. 15: The army will take "suitable action" against soldiers who desecrated the bodies of two Lashkar militants killed in a gunfight yesterday, the decision coming after a purported video of the act went viral.

Security forces had gunned down Abu Ismail, the Lashkar's Valley chief and mastermind of the July attack on a bus that killed eight Amarnath pilgrims, and his associate Abu Qasim at Nowgam on Srinagar's outskirts.

Thee defence spokesperson in Srinagar, Colonel Rajesh Kalia, said the army had taken cognisance of the video and "suitable action" would be taken against the soldiers. He did not elaborate what the action would be.

The video shot after the gunfight shows the bodies of the militants on ground, with two soldiers trampling their faces under their boots, as the other troopers look on.

In a massive crackdown on land mafia, the Jammu and Kashmir government today raised to ground 82 concrete structures and removed encroachments on over 125 acres of state-owned land in the city outskirts. The exercise also left 14 policemen including two officers injured. Led by Additional Deputy Commissioner (Jammu), Arun Manhas, teams of forest department, Jammu Development Authority (JDA) and a police contingent began the anti-encroachment drive in Dwara area along the banks of river Tawi this morning, police said. The team faced heavy stone pelting by encroachers and their supporters, wherein 14 police personnel, including a Sub Inspector (SI) and Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI), were injured, Manhas said.

The joint team of police, revenue and forest departments faced stiff resistance during the eviction, but we were able to retrieve forest land by demolishing 82 concrete structures and RCC plinths, he said. "The operation was successfully completed, and about 125 acres of forest land and the JDA land adjacent to the city on the banks of river Tawi, worth crores of rupees was retrieved from the clutches of encroachers," A D Singh, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Jammu, said. "The encroachers are hell bent upon usurping the forest land, but our field staff are vigil and are on the job to remove the encroachment and prevent the same in the future," he said.

The massive crackdown was carried out in compliance to the directions of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court. The court had pulled up the Jammu Development Authority and the revenue department for repeated massive encroachment of state land. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had also rapped the JDA for failing to retrieve Rs 147 crore worth prime property, including allotment of Rs 116 crore land to a non-state subject in Jammu, during the last 14 years.

J&K has got 6000+ Rohingya's living there. It amazing that no one has raised this demography altering situation. Just when the talks were started to bring back the KP's and give land for military personnel to settle in J&K there is lot of noise about the demography being altered.

How come J&K got so much sympathy for Rohingya's and don't feel threatened of marginalization ?

In a previous blog that discussed the implications of President Donald Trump’s new Afghanistan strategy, I suggested that Pakistan requires a re-think of its policies towards the US and Afghanistan.

It further stated that Pakistan should try to normalise relations with India, since the key to peace on the western border may lie on the eastern border. For this to happen, it is necessary for Pakistan to carry out an analysis of the continued validity of its Kashmir policy. This is not required as a concession that needs to be given to India to achieve peace, but it is necessary due to the ground realities.

However, before we enter the domain of a rational and fact-based analysis, we need to check in our emotions at the entrance. As mentioned in my earlier blog, foreign policy is based on a cold calculus of national interests and not emotional attachments.

As an example of this fact, please note that over the course of the Afghan War, both the US and Afghanistan have changed allies. During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, the US was fighting the Tajiks, Uzbeks and the Hazaras, who were aligned with the Soviet Union and mobilised the Pakhtuns and religious elements with Pakistan’s help in throwing them out.

Now, they are aligned with the same Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras against the very same Pakhtuns and religious elements who were their allies earlier. Furthermore, they have done this under the same slogan of helping the Afghan people achieve freedom.

Pakistan is currently pushing to improve its diplomatic position and thus enforce United Nations (UN) resolutions to enable the inhabitants of Jammu and Kashmir to exercise their rights of self-determination. Inherent in this policy is the assumption that given a choice, the people of Jammu and Kashmir would want to either join Pakistan or establish themselves as a separate country that would have friendly relations with Pakistan.

However, too much has happened since our Kashmir policy was first formulated and it may be time to test the underlying assumptions of this policy. In an earlier blog on this subject, I had noted,

“Two major opinion surveys conducted on both sides of the border in Kashmir over the period 2007-2010 have shown that less than 10% of the Muslim population of Indian Kashmir would like to join Pakistan. Likewise, Pakistani Kashmiris do not want to join India.

Therefore, it seems time has moved on and the situation on the ground has changed since 1947. The Kashmiris in occupied Kashmir are not as keen to join Pakistan as the Azad Kashmiris are for them to do so.”

Pakistan also needs to note that if an independent Kashmir were created, it would base its foreign policy on its own interests – interests that may not be congruent with those of Pakistan’s.

Furthermore, there is one more variable to take into account and that is of the principal waterways that flow through Kashmir – Pakistan’s critical lifeline.

The Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan, brokered by the World Bank in the early 60s, allotted the three eastern rivers – Sutlej, Bias and Ravi – to India and the three western rivers to Pakistan. Additionally, India has the right to use up to 20% of the western rivers for “non-consumptive use”.

If we look at the trajectories of the three rivers allocated to Pakistan, we can observe that the Indus River starts in Tibet, flows through a section of Indian-held Kashmir, just below the Aksai Chin area, and then enters Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B).

Here, it is fed by the glaciers of the K2 and then flows down through Azad Kashmir into Pakistan. The river Jhelum originates in Indian-occupied Kashmir and enters Jammu and Kashmir. Chenab starts in Indian-held Kashmir and then enters Pakistan.

Recently, the Indus Water Treaty has come under some strain, as reported by the Express Tribune. Pakistan has objected to India building the following projects, the Kishanganga and Ratle hydroelectric plants, on the tributaries of the Jhelum and Chenab rivers. Secretary level talks held on September 14th and 15th were inconclusive and Pakistan has now requested the World Bank to fulfil its duties under the treaty by impanelling the Court of Arbitration.

I remain optimistic that a resolution will be possible since the treaty has withstood similar strains in the past. Nevertheless, this issue does bring out the fact that the more reliable water source for Pakistan is the Indus River since it is less susceptible to diversions.

Still, if Azad Kashmir were to become a part of an independent Kashmir, then the entire water shed area of the Indus (including the part that is in G-B) and those of the Jhelum and Chenab would lie outside of Pakistan. At present, major parts of these areas are within Azad Kashmir and G-B. Pakistan is building key projects such as the Bhasha dam and the Bunji dam with the help of the Chinese in G-B. Thus, losing control of all rivers to a third country would be even riskier than the partial control of the waterways that Pakistan currently has.

We see, therefore, it is no longer in the interest of Pakistan to press for a UN plebiscite or an independent Kashmir. India has always been unwilling to consider an independent Kashmir as an option. Hopefully, after three wars, both India and Pakistan have realised that they cannot gain entire control on Kashmir.

A survey reported in April 2005 stated the following:

“Overwhelming opinion both within Indian-occupied Kashmir and outside in Indian metropolitan areas that it’s better to live with ground reality instead of seeking to redraw borders. A staggering 77% of those polled in five metros – Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad – and 55% of respondents in Srinagar and Rajouri think the de facto position of the LoC as the effective border should be made de jure as well. Considering that the poll in Jammu and Kashmir was restricted to Kashmiri Muslims, that’s a revealing reflection of the popular mood.”

Therefore, a division along the Line of Control (LoC), that is, a formalisation of the status quo is in the best interest of both India and Pakistan. This should be the primary thrust of Pakistan’s policy, not because it is the best deal that it can get, but since the alternative is not in its interest.

Now, Muslim Kashmiris do want independence essentially to get rid of the Indian suppression. The Indian government says that their military actions in Kashmir are a consequence of alleged Pakistani cross-border incursions.

Therefore, if a settlement is reached between India and Pakistan, it would also drastically reduce the support extremist groups receive in Pakistan. This, in turn, should lead to a reduction of their activities, which would go a long way in ending the repression in Indian-occupied Kashmir.

Furthermore, normalised relations with India would quell Pakistan’s urgency to have a pro-Pakistani government in Kabul. Consequently, it would reduce tensions between Islamabad and Kabul and maybe even contribute to peace in Afghanistan.

In light of the possible outcome of defusing the Indo-Pak tensions, it is imperative that political leaders of both countries (with encouragement from the international community) spend the necessary political capital to come to an agreement.

Is there going to be change of strategy of TSP vis-a-vis Kashmir , highly unlikely in short term, but at least some saner voices there realize how they have got it all wrong ..

Two major opinion surveys conducted on both sides of the border in Kashmir over the period 2007-2010 have shown that less than 10% of the Muslim population of Indian Kashmir would like to join Pakistan.

Terrorists lobbed a powerful grenade at a crowded bus stand in south Kashmir's Tral. The grenade attack was followed by firing, reports state. Three civilians have died and 20 others, including civilians and policemen, have been injured in the attack. The injured include 7 CRPF personnel. The injured have been rushed to hospital. The attack took place shortly after Jammu & Kashmir Minister Naeem Akhtar had reached there to inaugurate a project

Attacks on civilians start again.and firing in border areas of Jammu

Authorities today ordered the closure of schools located near the border in Arnia area of Jammu following fresh exchange of fire and shelling between the armies of India and Pakistan. An official said that all schools located within five kilometers from the border have been closed in view of shelling. He said that Pakistan army targeted border outposts in Arnia at midnight with small arms and mortars. "Indian army retaliated effectively and strongly," he said, adding that firing exchange continued throughout the night. The official said that around a dozen villages were affected by the firing. There was no immediate report of any loss to life or property.

Longish story about a old temple idol, it's theft and recovery. Heard it from someone involved in the action and some details are missing.

This idol was established in a small temple inside Hari Parbat fort , #Srinagar by one of the Dogra kings. It was decorated with a number of gold ornaments including a very large nose ring. When terrorism started in Kashmir and Hindus were forced to flee, someone stole the idol.

Temple remained empty for a number of years and nobody knew or cared much to search for it.

Then one day, a team of bank officials on a work trip were approached by a few kashmiri men from a mosque. They offered to sell them an antique statue for a few lakhs. The bank officials informed the local police and they laid a trap.

It led to recovery of this idol from a local mosque. All of It's ornaments were missing and nose broken in order to take out the nose ring.

Some Hindu devotees then brought the idol back to temple, re-established it in the temple and repaired it to the best of their ability. The crack on nose is the spot where it was repaired.

If you're ever in Srinagar, do visit this place. If not for the temple(s), atleast for the panoramic views.

The citizens of the Mohammadden Terrorist Fomenting Islamic Republic of Pakistan enjoy less Freedom than our state of Jammu & Kashmir.

The citizens of the Mohammadden Terrorist Fomenting Islamic Republic of Pakistan thus will enjoy greater freedom by joining India though that invitation to join is restricted by me to those in Pakistan Occupied J&K who are suffering under the occupation the Mohammadden Terrorist Fomenting Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s Punjabi dominated Military as it would be outright dangerous to let other citizens Mohammadden Terrorist Fomenting Islamic Republic of Pakistan join India and spread Mohammadden Terrorism:

Dulat said: “He (Ehsan) is still using the ploy of plausible deniability and being rather modest about his relationship which was well known. And from all that I know it was a great relationship that produced results. I think Sir, you recall the 2003 ceasefire took place because of you and your friend.”The remarks evoked laughter from Ehsan. Dulat added, “And if I can go beyond, your friend also tipped you with intelligence which may have saved Gen Musharraf’s life. And I think that is something that even Gen Musharraf in a way acknowledges. So I don’t think we need to deny that. It is a feather in your cap, Sir, and a feather in your friend’s cap.”